1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to format conversion of data.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, color processing is a two-step process. Input data in a device-dependent color space is translated into device-independent data, which is in turn translated to a device-dependent color space appropriate to an output device, such as a printer.
When there is only one possible data source and one possible data destination, a direct lookup table may be provided to convert the data directly from the source format to the destination format. However, in a situation with a plurality of possible data sources and/or a plurality of possible data destinations, it would be infeasible to provide a direct lookup table for every possible combination of data source and data destination.
This invention improves performance of data conversion by providing systems and methods in which at least one fast data conversion path is provided.
A determination is made as to whether a fast data conversion path is available for a specified source-to-destination data conversion. A fast data conversion path is used if available; otherwise, a two-step conversion process is used.
In various exemplary embodiments, the fast data conversion path is implemented using a lookup table (LUT). In one aspect of the invention, a lookup table converts data from a first data format associated with a particular type of data source to a second data format associated with a particular type of data destination. Data is received, the source format of the data is identified, if possible, and a destination format of the data is identified. If the data received is in the first format and the destination that the data will be output to uses the second format, the received data is directly converted from the first format to the second format using the lookup table.
If it is determined that the received data is not in the first format and/or that the destination format of the data is not the second format, the data is converted from the first format to an intermediate format. Then the intermediate format data is converted to a third format associated with the identified destination.
In another aspect, the systems and methods according to this invention determine whether color adjustment is to be performed to the data. If color adjustment is to be performed, the fast data conversion path cannot be used. Therefore, the two-step conversion process is used without regard to whether there is a first data conversion path.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention.